Pushing it

Today's training session was just as much a mental workout as physical. This training session is in the more of the realm of a challenge as it takes longer and has a much more brutal level of movements. These challenge workouts don't come up too often because of how exhausting they are and should only be taken on a couple times a month to stave of burnout and avoid injury. But when you are finished you get a tremendous sense of accomplishment!

Training:
Run 400 meters
25 burpees
18 pulls
4 rounds for time

Training:
Burpees 30 seconds
mountain climbers 30 seconds
jumping jacks 30 seconds
Burpees 30 seconds
Mountain climbers 30 seconds
Jumping jacks 30 seconds
Rest 1 minute
6 rounds

Competition

Competition is a very motivating dynamic to instill in a training session. It will drive athletes harder and further for those couple of extra seconds or to finish those last rounds. This is why I post all the completion times and results of all the training sessions for the athletes to see. It gives everyone a bench mark for the day to try and achieve or exceed. The flip side to this is that in reality you should only be in competition with yourself. You should strive to beat your previous times and strength numbers. If you focus on this aspect and continually best yourself then your body composition and performance goals will soon be a reality. Now look at that board and kick some ass!

Training:
Squat 5x5
Push-ups 4x quality set

Training:
Goblet squats 4x8
push-ups 4x quality set

Training:
Squat work up to a heavy set of 5
Plyo-pushups 4x10

Training:
200 squats for time
100 situps for time

Saturday morning

Nothing will wake you up like high intensity conditioning will! The 1 arm thruster brings alot of core stability and over all body conditioning to the table and the pull-ups are just plain fun. Couple it with the most primitive form of exercise and survival the run and we are ready to earn our calories for the weekend.

Training:
Run 400 meters
5 thrusters left arm
5 thrusters right arm
30 pulls
Run 800 meters
30 pulls
5 thrusters left arm
5 thrusters right arm
Run 400 meters
For time

Training:
Burpee ladder-start a clock, on the first minute do a burpee, rest until minute number 2 and do 2 burpees, rest until minute 3 and do 3 burpees, continue as long as possible, as soon as you cannot finish the number of burpees during the given minute the workout is done.

As the weather gets cooler

The weather is definitaly on the down slope as we get later in the year but luckily this will not slow down our conditioning! The more we use the jump rope the more I see it as one of the top tools for building conditioning. More demanding and skill intensive than running and utilizing a small amount of space, we will be jumping our way to higher levels of fitness as the weather outside is frightful.

Training:
100 rope turns
10 burpees
10 push-ups
10 squats
8 rounds for time

Training:
Bench press work up to a heavy single
Broad jumps 3x10

Goblet squats

These are fanatstic at teaching the correct body position throughout the entire range of motion for a properly performed squat. This squat drill teaches a fairly up right torso, sitting back and down while staying on the heels, and the elbows help to remind the athlete to keep the knees pushed out. After a couple reps and some instruction the athlete gets a feel for the squat and requires little coaching in the future.

Training:
Bench press 5x5
Goblet squats 3x12

Training:
Press 5x6
Goblet squats 3x12

Tired?

The fatigue set in really fast today and this is a direct result of the nature of the movements. The dumbbell snatch is a explosive movement which means it utilizes the fast twich muscles in our bodies. The fast twich type IIb are responsible for explosive movements are among the strongest and have the most potential for growth. The downside is these muscle fibers get tired really fast. So when the dumbbell snatch is programmed into a high intensity interval training session the result is a brutal conditioning session with outstanding results. Power and muscle are built and the more muscle that our bodies build the more fat we burn throughout the day.

Training:
5 dumbbell snatches right arm
5 dumbbell snatches left arm
10 squats
max rounds in 15 minutes

My fun as a coach

Teaching the basic barbell squat is probably my favorite lift to teach as a trainer. Theres just something about taking someone who has never correctly done the exercise right, and watching them develop the correct technique in a short amount of time. The strength days have also evolved, After a lower body strength day such as today I have paired a upper body strength movement. This will usually be something unconventional such as weighted push-ups or on an upper body strength day a sandbag lift. Of course these are only a few of the options to chose and I have an arsenal of many, many movements to pull from. So far so good, I hope to see continued gains.

Training:
Squat 5x5
Push-ups 4x quality set

Training:
Pistols 5x5
swings 4x20
plyo-pushups 4x10

Training:
Deadlift x a max single
Plyo-pushups 4x10